


Too Soft

by Sadsnail



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hogwarts First Year, Homesickness, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25612894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sadsnail/pseuds/Sadsnail
Summary: It is Harry's first night in Hogwarts and Snape unintentionally helps him to adjust.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	Too Soft

Harry lay awake in his new Gryffindor bed.

It was too soft.

Like the bed in Dudley’s second room.

You would think he had over a month to get used to it after Aunt Petunia moved him there, but he still wasn’t able to sleep. One month was nothing to nine years in the cupboard on a thin mattress, and that was what his stupid body wanted: the mattress, the sliver of light under the small door, and the dusty smell whenever heavy steps went up or down the stairs.

Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all fast asleep, Seamus snoring loud enough for two. Too noisy. Too much space. Harry got up and stood on his mattress to close his curtains, circling the heavy red cloth all around his bed. He lay down. There, it was smaller now. A tiny little room all of his own. He could barely hear the others… he hit his pillow and turned on his side.

His stomach churned. Even if he hadn’t been bothered by the bed he might not have been able to sleep anyway. It had been his first-ever feast and imagine not having someone watch how much you ate! He didn’t have to wait for anyone to take the first serving, and the plates kept filling up again and again—of course he ate too much. And he planned on eating too much every day. He had already stashed two bread rolls in his trunk; it wouldn’t do any harm to prepare, they might also punish kids here by sending them to bed without dinner. He would hide some more before he went home, but that was still months away, no need to worry about it now.

He thumped the pillow a second time and turned to his other side. Somewhere, a clock ticked. What was the time? It must be well past midnight now. Ron and the others had been up very late talking, and Harry had done his best to take part. Back home they rarely talked to him, and at school Dudders soon stopped any kid that wanted to, so he hadn’t known what to say really, but none of them noticed. Ron had declared himself to be Harry’s best friend, and wasn’t that something? Well, it will definitely be something when Ron realised what a freak Harry was—but no, he wouldn’t, right? They were all freaks here. Wizards!

This time when he thumped the pillow and turned, he pinched himself also because he couldn’t quite believe he was in a castle about to learn how to do magic.

He closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.

It was no use.

Giving up he fumbled through the curtain for his glasses. If he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he would at least like to see properly. He didn’t want to imagine things like ghosts watching him, sitting at the foot of his bed. With a sigh, he stood a second time on the too-soft mattress and pulled the curtains open again, letting the snores back in.

For a while he sat cross-legged on the bed, watching the stars through the window opposite. When it became boring, he decided to go to the toilet. Moving silently across the room, he hesitated at their bedroom door, scared to try the handle only to find it locked. His cupboard had always been locked, and Dudley’s bedroom was also locked every night, they didn’t want him roaming around up to no good… His breath whooshed out in a relieved rush when the door swung open, and he slipped out into the deserted hall, nervously listening for sounds of a prefect walking about. Nothing. It felt like he was the only kid awake in the world.

The floor was for the first year boys only, and the three bedrooms shared one bathroom as they weren’t a big group. Bigger than last year, he heard Percy Weasley say, but in the school he had gone to there were six classes of over thirty students each, so this was still nothing. Sconces high up the stone wall dimly lit the way, and Harry slipped silently down the corridor into the bathroom.

And gawked at it.

Scrubbing tiles was another punishment his aunt liked to dole out, and from her he had learned to appreciate a shiny bathroom. This one sparkled. It was also ginormous. It had ten shower cubicles to one side, and the same amount of toilets to the other, and at the far end, facing a large bank of windows, were a row of gleaming basins. Harry couldn't imagine having to clean a whole castle full of such bathrooms every day. Unless they did it with magic? He would love to see that!

He didn’t actually have a need to use the bathroom, but now that he was there, he decided to get a drink of water.

Then thought it might be better to use the toilet anyway, perhaps they only locked the doors at a different time here.

Finished, Harry went to the bank of basins to wash his hands. The tap started running warm water when he brought his hand near, trying to figure out how to turn it on, and a soap bottle floated over to squeeze a dollop of purple fluid on his palm. He sniffed it and smelled lavender. This was so amazing that he washed his hands three times at three different basins just to see the bottle float again and again. There were no towels, and Harry had not thought to bring his own from his trunk, so he dried his hands on his oversized pajama bottoms.

Not ready to go back to bed, he watched the stars for a while. It was the only thing he liked about Dudley’s second bedroom, finally being able to see the night sky. It was pitch black outside, and with the light behind him he had to lean over the basins with his nose against the cold glass to be able to see anything. He should go back to the room and try to sleep, he knew. But what if this was all a dream?

Outside, the hall was quiet, and he couldn’t hear any noise from the Common Room downstairs. He hesitated beside their bedroom door. Maybe he didn’t have to go back to bed just yet?

* * *

“Potter!” A hand shook him. “Wake up!”

Harry opened his eyes to find the hook-nosed teacher—Professor Snape, he thought his name was—frowning down at him. It was still dark and it took him a moment to realise where he was: not just in Hogwarts, but in an empty hallway very far from the tower and his too soft bed. Having roamed until he was quite lost, he had settled down on a dusty window seat and finally slept.

“Get up! Why are you not in bed?” Professor Snape barked, pulling Harry upright when he was too slow to move, his fingers digging into his shoulder.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“What do you call this, then?” the teacher asked. “Get up! Students are not allowed out in the hallways after curfew and certainly not to sleep wherever they feel like! Five points from Gryffindor!”

He was right, Harry thought, pushing his glasses up to see the professor better. The man didn’t like him. Professor Snape’s top lip curled up just like Uncle Vernon’s did when he had to talk to Harry...

And suddenly everything was fine.

This was not such a strange world at all, there was still going to be people who didn’t like him, who didn’t declare him their best friend right off the bat, and there was nothing he could do to change that. He smiled.

“Do you find this funny, Potter?”

“No, sir. I’m just glad to be here.”

***

_Thanks for reading!_


End file.
